Cybercrime. Cyber Terrorism. Cyber Warfare.

This US industry is ‘woefully behind’ on cyber security

A new report from Forrester may point insurance agents in the right direction for their next cyber insurance policy sale.

According to the analyst, the US healthcare industry is significantly underprepared for an attack on their information databases or even for an accidental data breach.

“When it comes to preparedness, they’re woefully behind and that, to me, is a concerning thing,” said Forrester analyst Stephanie Balaouras. “They’ve done it begrudgingly and they’ve done it as something that they need to comply with at the lowest possible cost, as opposed to something they really embrace.”

This is despite the fact that last year’s Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield breach is second only to Home Depot in terms of the number of victims. The Premera Blue Cross hack, which breached 11 million customer records, is also in the top five.

In fact, a Ponemon Institute report released earlier this year shows that nearly 90% of US healthcare providers have been hit by a data breach since 2013. And the cost isn’t cheap – all told, these incidents cost the industry an average $6 billion a year.